


Chance

by BatmanLove394



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Animated Series
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, M/M, This Was Meant to be a Short PWP, a bit of harvey perspective mixed in there, a friend helped me with the timeline and some headcanons about how they meet, also fuck canon we make our own, but then I delved far too deep, mostly from bruce's perspective
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:47:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23473435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatmanLove394/pseuds/BatmanLove394
Summary: Bruce and Harvey had a mutual dislike and distrust of one another, based on some misunderstandings. When it's revealed what each person is truly like, the two become friends. As their relationship grows, they find out some things about each other that make it hard to stay professional.
Relationships: Harvey Dent/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Chance

At first, Bruce didn’t trust Harvey Dent. He didn’t trust anyone until they’d earned it, and this assistant to the district attorney was no different. Perhaps it was his current bias about the man that Dent worked for that made him even more hesitant to like the guy. After all, Mort Weinstein was a corrupt man that worked for Maroni, allowing any cases that would land the criminals in jail to be dropped. How could anyone who worked under that man be anything but as corrupt as his boss was? Little did Bruce know that Harvey was working as a way to not only build his own reputation and get enough experience to take hold of the job the second Mort was exposed and tried, but he was also working with Jim Gordon to gather evidence against him to use in court when he finally made his first case against the man.

  
Even if he had known these facts, however, there was still something off about the way Harvey presented himself. How he gave smiles to the flashing cameras. Bruce knew it all too well- a secret that’s being hid. Mind, it wasn’t a constant like how his own playboy persona was, but sometimes those smiles were forced, his eyes betraying something. The detective in him was curious to uncover what was really going on. Who was Harvey Dent?

* * *

  
  
Harvey wasn’t the only one with scrutiny on him. Just as much as he didn’t trust Dent, the man in question did not like Bruce Wayne one bit. Harvey had seen enough greedy, self centered bastards that ran around and flaunted their money. The richest man in Gotham had to be one of them, he was sure. What with the press releasing gossip on his latest conquests all the time, what sort of person just had a new fling every two weeks and tossed people out like they meant nothing? And from what he’d seen on Wayne in news, and what he’d read, this man was one arrogant asshole. The attitude screamed that he was hiding something, something dark. Dent was no detective, but he knew all too well about keeping one’s dark side under lock and key. He knew when someone else was doing it. Just what was in that mind of Bruce Wayne that was so bad? Being one that knew the law like the back of his hand, Harvey was sure he’d have that man in prison for something soon enough.

  
But Harvey also believed in giving people chances. So maybe Wayne was just getting a bad rep. He decided he was going to meet the man himself to find out what he was like for himself, which brought him to the first time he informally met Bruce. At a charity gala the man was attending, Harvey had the luck of being invited. He was about to approach Wayne, who stood with a drink in his hand and three women at his arms, when a familiar face walked to the billionaire instead. Carmine Falcone. He couldn’t hear what they were discussing, but when the girls had gone off, he knew it couldn’t be good. For a playboy who’s whole life was his dates, he sure did have them leave so soon when this mob boss arrived. Harvey knew it. He knew that there was no good in Bruce Wayne! When he was district attorney, Wayne Enterprises would be exposed as a front for whatever crime ring it had, and Wayne was going to fry.

* * *

  
  
Bruce wasn’t going to go to the fundraiser at first. Just being there would give the papers the idea that he supported this man, and Bruce wanted no hints of that. Yet he wanted to meet Harvey Dent in person, before Batman visited the files on him. So, arriving late to the campaign, dozens of eyes turned to meet Bruce Wayne as he walked into the building like he owned the place. He flashes a smile at the crowd, eyes glancing over them all. Taking in who was there.

  
If he’d been able to scan the people for a moment longer, he’d have seen Jim Gordon. Perhaps it was fate, a way to give Bruce the opportunity to let his own opinions form of this man before anyone else’s gave him a bias. He trusted the police force’s captain greatly, and if this man was supporting the district attorney’s assistant, then he’d have been less harsh on Dent when he met him.

  
Instead, he was met with a hardy “Mr. Wayne! Over here!” As Harvey’s campaign manager marched over to greet what could only be the best asset to his employer. Bruce gave a smile to Wilkes, and let himself be pulled over to where the man of the hour was.

  
Screens didn’t compare to what Harvey looked like in person. Handsome was an understatement, with slick black hair, dark skin, and caramel colored eyes. Eyes that watched closely as a guest arrived before him. Eyes that showed a hint of his annoyance, lips that twisted into a forced smile. And his voice. Smooth, but low. Confident. Intense. “Mr. Wayne. A pleasure to meet you.” Dent had said- voice not suggesting what his eyes gave away, that he didn’t want to be talking to him- and held a hand out in greeting. Bruce’s gaze fell to the hand, his own reaching out to grip it. The handshake was firm, it wasn’t clear which of the two had started it, but there was a sudden pressure there. Each squeezing the other, as if to say I don’t like you without any words.

  
Both pulled away at the same time, and now it was Bruce’s turn to force a smile. His face had been neutral during the interaction, and now he gave Harvey that dumb, innocent smirk of a playboy.

  
Harvey wasn’t falling for it, just like Bruce wasn’t falling for his.

  
“Mr. Dent, you’ve made quite a fuss in the media. People are calling you the new face of Gotham and you aren’t even district attorney yet. Don’t you find it odd to be showing up your own boss? Mighty… confident.” Bruce starts speaking first, tone not giving away anything, but the implications were there. Mort had to be behind all of this, ready to retire and let a new man under Maroni’s hand take over. Stir up Gotham and make the transition go easy so that no runner up dared to face the so adored Harvey Dent. Clever. More clever than the mob boss had been in a while. Maybe this man had something to do with it, maybe he’d been the one to give the suggestion. Whatever the case, his distrust was showing through and Bruce had to cover it. “So. Tell me about your campaign.”

  
Harvey had caught onto the implications. Somewhere inside, his anger began to rise. Wayne was the crook here, and he was going to scold him just because he was doing a good job? What a piece of- Before he can let his anger out, the side of him he was most ashamed of, most terrified of, he decided to talk. To calm himself with accusing words. His campaign manager sure wouldn’t be happy, but Harvey was the type to not hold himself back. He wasn’t one that made many friends in his line of work due to that. Jim Gordon being the only one who liked him. Which, he was fine with. Gordon was the only person he didn’t believe to be yet another corrupt scumbag running the justice system. “You’re quite the media darling yourself, Mr. Wayne. Cocky, arrogant, a real-”

  
“Ahem! What Harvey means is that news isn’t always right about a person.” Wilkes is quick to assure him, but Bruce had got the message loud and clear.  
This criminal was going to accuse him of being a bad person? Bruce’s grin doesn’t fade, but his eyes do narrow. Just who the hell did Harvey think he was, taking the self righteous stand when he worked for and aided the crime bosses of Gotham City?

  
Harvey was going to say just who he thought he was, too. In all fairness, Bruce had asked about the campaign. But what left that quick mouth of his, was something that Wayne didn’t expect. Something that had to be a lie. But the passion that was behind what he was saying… Bruce knew it all too well. It was the same passion he put into everything he did for Gotham.

  
“Mind the pun, my manager here thought it was a good slogan, but my goal, Mr. Wayne, is to put a Dent in crime. It’s no secret that Gotham City is run by it’s criminals, and I think it’s about time we give our home a brighter future. I’m going to be working around the clock to be getting bills passed for certain programs like rehabilitation, rec centers, you name it. And when I’m DA, the scum of the city will be locked away, the trials won’t be dropped like so many already, evidence won’t suddenly disappear, and I’ll be changing the justice system around case by case.”

  
Wilkes looked proud of the statement, giving a nod to Harvey. Bruce was speechless. For someone that was the source of the problem, this man acted like he could change it while being the very front runner of crime. Yet what sort of corrupt man was so adamant about change? What sort of trick was this? Maroni had never tried to pose as lawful before, always so arrogant about the way the law didn’t work when he and his men were released. For the first time, Bruce considered that one of his hunches might be wrong.

  
But if Harvey Dent wasn’t a rat under the careful watch of a crime boss, just what did he think he was doing? Did he not see the risk of being so public about what he wanted? Gotham was controlled by corruption, if he was so adamant about seeing it gone, he’d be snuffed out in an instant. There had to be another explanation.

  
An explanation that Bruce Wayne wasn’t going to get, but Batman sure would. The billionaire left the party early, and in the ride back to the manor there was only one thought on his mind. Harvey Dent. The passion, the mystery, the lies. The… smile. A grin that lit up the room, so full of confidence and a will to cause true change.

  
As he entered the cave, dawning the familiar cape and cowl, the man had the name still swimming in his mind. He would find out who Harvey Dent was. Little did he know, later down the night would prove exactly who, and to Bruce’s surprise it would be someone he liked very much.


End file.
